Howtoprogram Wiki:Manual of Style/Grammar and Spelling
Below are some tips on grammar, spelling, and general technical subjects. Grammar Good and Well *'Good' is an adjective. It describes nouns or pronouns. It may be used with descriptive linking verbs like look, feel, sound, taste, or be to describe the subject. ** Correct The pizza tasted pretty good. ** Incorrect The pizza tasted pretty well. *'Well' is usually an adverb. It describes verbs (sometimes adjectives) and is used with most other verbs. **Well as an adjective means "healthy." *** Incorrect He pitches good. *** Correct He pitches well. *** Incorrect as adjective I do not feel very good. *** Correct I do not feel very well. Your and You're *'Your' is possessive. For example, if you said "This is your book!", then this would mean the book belongs to you. *'You're' is a contraction of you and are, thus "you are" equals "you're". Affect and Effect *'Affect' is a verb that describes the action that caused the change. "The tornado affected the town catastrophically." *'Effect' is a noun that describes the change. "The effect on the town by the tornado was catastrophic." Their, There, and They're *'Their' is possessive. For example, if you said "That's their book!", then this would mean the book belongs to them. *'There' is a preposition. Example sentence: "There's the ruby over on the desk!" *'They're' is a contraction of the words they and are. That means "they are" is the equivalent of "they're". Too, to, and Two *'Two' represents a number, which is 2. "I have two biscuits ready for breakfast." *'Too' is a synonym for "also". "I have a pet too!" *'To' is a preposition and also a start of an infinitive, for example, "to be". "This is letter is going to be given to the government from a very important business man." Lose and Loose *'Lose' means to fail or misplace something. "I have lost to the fastest runner in their school!" *'Loose' means not tight. "My shoe laces are loose; I shall tie them." Its and It's *'Its' is possessive, like his or hers. "Its printer" means the printer belonging to it. *'It's' is a contraction between "It is" and less commonly, "It has". Advice and Advise *Advice is a noun, and is a synonym for a suggestion. *Advise is a verb, and means to suggest something. E.g. When I advise you to do something, you can take the advice or leave it. Who's and Whose *Who's is a contraction of two words: "who is" or "who has". *Whose is possessive, like its, his and hers. Possessive "Whose" does not need an apostrophe. E.g. "Whose computer is on?" and "Who's still awake?" Spelling Slang Words Slang words are greatly discouraged in articles. Here is an example list of slang words. Bold words are the incorrect versions while the non-bold words are correct. *'y'all' - all of you *'gonna' - going to *'gotta' - got to ("Got to" is also discouraged because this is an informal phrase) *'dat' - that *'dunno' - don't know *'kewl, kool' - cool *'Dem' - Them Common misspelled words Examples are laid out like this: Correct - Incorrect. A-B C-D E-H I-K L-O P-Q R-S T-Z